. >> joining us now is rob buy jeffrey meyer, the rabbi of the tree of life synagogue and will lead theuneral services for the rosenthal brothers earlier this morning. thank you for taking time to be on our program with us, we know you have a very busy and sad morning ahead of you. rabbi, we wanted to have you back. i can't tell you how many people yesterday made a point of e-mailing me or coming up to me directly and telling me how moved they were by your words here on "new day" yesterday and so we wanted to check back in with you and just hear how you're feeling and how your congregation is doing this morning. >> warm greetings from squirrel hill, alisyn. i think we're trying to put the pieces back together. everyone, i think, is still in varied degrees of grief, shock, dismay, all rolled into one. my priority and responsibility particularly over these next few days is to tend to my congregation, all of their needs, most particularly the families who suffered losses. i met with a family yesterday and how do i answer when the parents say, we thought the graves would be for us, not for

last night, tree of life synagogue rabbi jeffrey meyers had a message for all politicians. >> ladies and gentlemen, it has to start with you as our leaders. [ applause ] >> reporter: sanders said the president will continue to criticize political opponents in harsh terms to draw a contrast and fight back. the role of consoler in chief is not one then candidate trump auditioned for in 2016, and very little about his presidency suggests he considers living up to its contemporary norms, a particular presidential jeff? >> all right, major, thanks very much. we are going to be more remembrances of the synagogue shooting victims a bit later. there is other news. >>> a man suspected of sending explosive material to critics of president trump made his first court appearance today in miami as another suspicious package was found. here's manuel bojorquez. >> reporter: in court, a handcuffed caesar sayoc was soft-spoken and appeared to become emotional at times. a stark contrast to the man accused of a campaign of fear that continued even today. this time with a suspicious package intercepted i

jared, i do want to ask you also about rabbi jeffrey meyers who said he welcomed president trump therewhat do you make of him being the one saying, we want this, we welcome this. >> it's a sentiment that we have heard from a number of people here. when the president comes he brings a focus of the nation to any location, and by coming here in the after aftermath of this attack, he's highlighting the horrific nature of it and the need for change that needs to happen at a presidential level that really no one else could bring in terms of focus and calling attention to that. we have heard from a number of jewish members that that means a lot to them, that the president is taking the time out of his schedule, especially with the midterms coming up. the fact that he is here, they feel like it makes a big statement to him. others feel like the timing, they don't like it and wish he would have waited a little bit longer. it's something for many in this community that is meaning a lot as they try to process this and work through the grieving and remember those who lost their lives. a lot of the

. >> ahead, we will hear more from jeffrey meyers who was in the synagogue when shots rang out and the latest from jeff glor. >>> a day after the massacre, president trump blamed the media for the v volatile political atmosphere in n this cntry. in aweet he said the fake news is doing everything in their power to blame republicans, conservatives, and me for the division and hatred that has been going on for so long in our country. honestly it's their fake and dishonest reporting which is causing problems far greater that they understand. mr. trump will be traveling to pittsburgh in had the near future but did not say when. >>> a recent report shows that hate crimes are up in most cities and jews are being victimized more than any other group. meg oliver has that story. >> the kids are being targeted simply because they're jie wiew >> reporter: america in 2018 is grapi grappling with the rise of anti-semitism. saturd saturday's attack comes after social media threats, and spray spanted swastikas on synagogues. jonathan greenblatt was the antidefamation league noticed a rise of 57% last

. >> reporter: rabbi jeffrey meyer was there. >> i announced to my congregation, drop to the floor, be still. >> reporter: he hustled three of them to safety and placed a 911 call all as gunshots rang out. what kind of things were you hearing and what was going on? >> rapid succession of shots. it sounds like roughly five or six at a time and i'm hearing people screaming and it's seared in my brain. i can't erase that tape. >> reporter: another shooting in another house of worship. this time in pittsburgh, 11 people killed and 6 others wounded. the murders underscoring a disturbing national trend. anti-semitic incidents reported in this country have ursurged u 57%. saturday morning members of three congregations gathered inside this 65-year-old temple. a baby naming ceremony about to start when suddenly a gunman burst into the house of worship. >> as soon as he came into the lobby he opened fire. >> reporter: according to the fbi the alleged gunman carried an assault-style rifle, three handguns and hatred towards jews. in under a minute s.w.a.t. teams descended on the tree lined street

i know you're heading to pittsburgh tomorrow and rabbi jeffrey meyers from the tree of life synagogue said last night the following. >> i want to address for the moment some of our political leaders who are here. ladies and gentlemen, it has to start with you as our leaders. my words are not intended as political fodder. stop the words of hate. >> laura: given his words, what do you think your role tomorrow will be and should be? >> president trump: i'm just going to pay my respects. i'm also going to the hospital to see the officers and some of the people that were so badly hurt. and i really look forward to going. i would have done it even sooner but i didn't want to disrupt any more than they already have disruption but i look forward to going to pittsburgh tomorrow. >> laura: who set over the weekend you might even tone of the rhetoric. the media today these dominant sarah huckabee sanders press briefing. if they are pointing fingers at you saying you could do more, you're the leader of the free world. what do you say to that? >> president trump: i did a rally and i was thinking a

. >> reporter: rabbi jeffrey meyers helped several members of his congregation get to safety. he will preside over the brothers' funeral this afternoon. >> we will honor them in some way that distinguishes them to get beyond that atrocious act. >> reporter: prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against robert bowers who they say killed all 11. >> rest assured we have a team of prosecutors working hard to ensure that justice is done. >> reporter: president trump and first lady melania will come here today to pay their respects to the victims and visit injured first responders. but some members of the jewish community say the president is partly to blame. barry wurbur who hid during the shooting took issue with the president identifying as a nationalist. >> the last political group that i heard iowe nas. >> reporter: mr. trump backed up his stance last night on fox news. >> i'm proud of this country, and i call that nationalism. i call it being a nationalist. i don't see any other connotation than that. >> reporter: while some local and religious leaders remain divided on

pittsburgh to meet with the families and first responders, and i especially want to thank rabbi jeffrey meyers was terrific. he was terrific. fine man. we grieve for the families of the fallen and we send our eternal gratitude to the law enforcement officers who sustained severe injuries taking down the gunman. they were incredible. [cheers] >> as bad as it was, and it was bad, it could have been far worse. they were unbelievable, and they got there fast. we pledge our resolve to remove the vile poison of anti-semitism and so many other problems from our world and reaffirm our unbreakable solidarity with the jewish people. thank you. yesterday's visit to pittsburgh was about coming together as a nation to comfort and to heal. after this day of unity and togetherness, i came home and sadly turned on the news and watched as the far left media once again used tragedy to sow anger and division. sadly they took a small group of protesters, far away from where we were, because we could not have been treated better. the first lady and myself, but we're representing the presidency, and they did everyt

the rabbi of the tree of life synagogue in pittsburgh, rabbi jeffrey meyer. we're so, so sorry for your community's loss. >> thank you, alisyn. >> what are you telling your congregation today about what happened this weekend? >> i don't have a specific congregation message. regrettably active, engaged with all of these families because i have seven congregants i have to bury. >> yeah. do you blame anyone for what happened there at the tree of life beyond the gunman? >> i don't really voice blame upon any person. hate does not know religion, race, creed, political party. it's not a political issue in any way, shape or form. hate does not know any of those things. it exists in all people. >> but can hate be cultivated? what we're struggling with today is maybe hate is in all people. maybe it's dormant. what lights the match of hate? >> i think you're raising one of those great questions that people far smarter than i can answer, but i do recall this. if we look in the bible after the story of the flood and noah, god regretfully says to noah, i have learned that

rabbi jeffrey meyers said it was a typical saturday where three congregations meet every saturday morning. he just started shabbat services and he respected several escape and ran out of time. >> i turned back to see if i can help the remaining eight people in the back of my congregation. at that time i could hear the gunfire getting louder. it was no longer safe for me to be there and i had to leave. one of the eight was shot and she survived her wounds. the other seven were gunned down in my sanctuary. there was nothing i could do. i do live with regret that i wish i could have done more. i live with that and the sounds that are seered in my brain that i will never forget for the rest of my life. >> the suspect due in court this afternoon. he faces 40 charges, several of which are punishable by death. let's start with the latest on this investigation. >> good afternoon to you, john. that suspect is due in court. we know that new documents filed show that federal prosecutors have flagged robert bowers as a flight risk and a danger to the community. as you alluded to, we do know that fede

. >> rabbi jeffrey meyers from the tree of life synagogue was on here at cnn earlier today.e was asked specifically about the open letter. take a listen to his response. >> rabbi, president trump has talked about coming to pittsburgh and coming to your synagogue in the aftermath of this. do you want him to come? >> the president of the united states is always welcome. i'm a citizen, he's my president. he is certainly welcome. >> the rabbi there saying he's always welcome. i'm curious the reaction from both of you. >> i believe that -- >> oh, i respect rabbi meyers' position. we have a joke in the community, two jews, three opinions, but we know we're representing tens of thousands of jewish people who have already signed and people across the united states, around the world who feel that the blood of these victims is on president trump's hands. that he has knowingly and intentionally and selfishly for years used this rhetoric to endanger our community and all the other communities that have been on the front line since he took office and even before that. and on behalf of ou

a strong, sobering, and hopeful message from the tree of life synagogue's rabbi, jeffrey meyers. listen to this. >> i experienced anti-semitisim my whole life in one form or another. i just never thought it could reach this level. someone who had taken to their own hands and make a decision that they need to murder jews. that concerns me not just as a jew, because it wasn't just an attack on the jewish community, but an attack upon america. this gunman made it clear that people anywhere that wish to worship need to be concerned because this challenged our freedom of worship. we are a tree of life. as i said before to many, you can cutoff branchs from the tree, but tree of life has been in pittsburgh for 154 years. we will rebuild and be back stronger and burden of proof ever. i will not let hate close down my building. >> now he has to officiate at the funerals in pittsburgh. joining us from pittsburgh is the director of marketing for the jewish federation of pittsburgh. thank you so much for joining us. our hearts go out to you and everyone else there. you worship, i understand,

president spent only 13 minutes in the tree of life synagogue where they were welcomed by rabbi jeffrey meyers who didn't invited the president but had always said he would welcome the president to visit the synagogue if the president did decide to come to pittsburgh. thousands of people filled the streets of the squirrel hill neighborhood making maneuvers challenging for the presidential motorcade. one of the organizers of the protest told buzzfeed he's fostered an administration of white supremacy and he is not welcome in our time of mourning. the protest were filled with families joining together to say the president of the united states is part of the problem that they are now dealing with in what always was their peaceful neighborhood of squirrel hill. the president intensified the local resistance to his visit this morning when he made an inane public announcement in an interview saying falsely that he could end birthright citizenship in the united states by executive order. that is a lie. the right of every baby born in the united states to be a citizen of the united states is guarantee

but rabbi jeffrey meyers of the tree of life synagogue did say that the president was welcome to come to go and pay his respects to the 11 people who were so brutally gunned down on saturday. during services they are at the synagogue. he also said he wanted to meet in the hospital with law enforcement officers who were wounded in the shoot out as they put their lives on the line to try to take down the government. and are recovering in a hospital. we typically minute-by-minute in these things, get a heads up on when we can report the president's movements? i expect it would take him a little bit of time to get into town but as soon as he does, we should have more information for you. >> shepard: john roberts, thanks so much. a final look at the dow as the final bell will ring and 17 seconds. the dow is having a great day and it's led by a number of stocks including the parent company of oreos which is nabisco of course, but mandalas international is way up today. thanks and intermediate companies are all up today, and if there is the bell. it rings for 15 seconds at the top of the hou

. >> just this summer rabbi jeffrey meyers, the rabbi at tree of life, wrote a blog post about schoolotings. he was bemoaning elected officials waiting out the news cycle, warning, i feel that the status quo will remain unchanged. do you feel a responsibility to change that status quo now? >> yes. we had the responsibility to change it 15, 10 years ago. now that it his us at home in pittsburgh, in this neighborhood, the city of pittsburgh will stand up to this. not only will we but we need partners in other major u.s. cities to stand up to this as well. if we can't get the help and support from our state and federal levels, cities will have to take it head on. we're not afraid to do that. >> what exactly do you want to do? tragically, we hear these shootings so often. what can be different? >> something has to be different. that's all i can say. something has to be different. we should have taken action years ago when it comes to, you know, sensible gun control. although we're limited in the city of pittsburgh, we'll do our best to make something happen and work with our partners at t

among the speakers, the tree of life rabbi, jeffrey meyers. >> i helped pull out the people that i could from the front, but i had eight people in the back. one, fortunately, survived. my congregants were shot dead in my sanctuary. my holy place has been defiled. we will rebuild. >> underscoring that, rabbi myers says the synagogue is going to recover. he urged people last night at the vigil to stop using words of hate. at this hour the alleged gunman, 46-year-old robert bowers, is in a federal courthouse here in pittsburgh. his initial court appearance is scheduled to get underway in a little less than an hour and a half. back to you. >> melissa: david, thank you. in the meantime, the gun debate is in full swing once again. after that gunman killed 11 people in a pittsburgh synagogue on saturday using multiple weapons, including an ar-15 semiautomatic weapon. some synagogues and churches have an increase in security and president trump, on saturday, suggested that the pittsburgh synagogue should have had an armed guard. watch. >> nobody knows exactly what took place yet. it's too soon.

this is from rabbi jeffrey meyer from the tree of life. we can only hope and pray for the best for the families of those who have fallen victim today. thanks so much. >> arthel: a service was taking place at the synagogue when the gunmagunman entered and opened . squirrel hill is considered the head of bit pittsburgh's jewish community. we are joined by mr. rubin. i may have to interrupt you as we're waiting remarks from the president. meanwhile, let me begin with you by asking you first, did you have any relative or close friends at the service this morning? >> thank you, arthel. thanks for covering this. my parents were there last night at friday night's service. the synagogue itself is three individual synagogues, actually, that share that space. so our family's a member of one of those and fortunately my family is okay. but we don't know the names of those who were affected today. >> arthel: of course, i understand that. i'm glad to hear that your family is doing fine under the circumstances. they weren't hurt but i'm sure they're not

. >> shannon: that was tree of life rabbi jeffrey meyers whether he would let president trump visit hisrrow when the president and first lady visit pittsburgh to pay their respects to the victims and survivors of the tragedy. in the wake of the synagogue shooting a new criticism emerge emerges. despite being an unabashed pro-israel hawk the president is now accused of being anti-semitic. new york magazine for example explains his ideology is anti-semitism without jews. the landmass to his enemies as globalist, which through its implication of extra national loyalty closely track the primary accusation that get made against jews. talk about all of this with our power panel, charlie hurt, assistant editor of "the wall street journal" editorial page, james freeman and green. thank you all for being with us tonight. is this a just horrible story. this is what the president said in his tweets about what happened. all of america is in mourning over the mass murder of jewish americans at the tree of life synagogue in pittsburgh. we pray for those who perished and their loved ones and our heart

jeffrey meyer is the rabbi at tree of life. >> my holy place has been defiled. >> reporter: speakingor the first time since the attack, and promising, like so many here -- >> we will rebuild to be a stronger tree, offering a new light. >> reporter: after the darkest. ♪ and likely deadliest attack ever on a jewish community in america. this morning students in all pittsburgh public schools are beginning their day with a moment of silence and reflection to remember and honor the victims of the attack here. laura, just a tough go for this community and so many and will be for quite some time. >> our hearts go out to them. thank you very much, jay, for the latest. >>> savannah guthrie is also live in pittsburgh. you'll find her there on the "today" show at 7:00 a.m. new details on that attack, including what we're learning about the people tragically killed. >>> and right now on your monday morning, it is 6:09, we are going to see mostly clear skies to start out today. here is a live look outside in san jose, and we head over to santa clara to see our temperature trend will be at 52 degr

that was rabbi jeffrey meyers of the tree of life synagogue in pittsburgh responding to the horrificack on his congregation this saturday. saturday's attack took the lives of 11 congregants, making it the deadliest attack on jewish people in u.s. history -- in u.s. history. according to the antidefamation league, it's part of a pattern, however, of growing anti-semitism in the country. in 2017 the number of anti-semitic incidents rose by merely 60%, the largest percentage by the adl. president trump condemned the attack as evil, but his off-prompter comments have been more trouble, of the last week for example at a rally in houston, right here, trump referred to himself as a nationalist. a term embraced by those with a racist ideology. >> they have a word that sort of became old-fashioned. it's called a nationalist. and i say, really, we're not supposed to use that word. you know what i am? i'm a nationalist, okay? i'm a nationalist. [ cheers and applause ] >> while trump has continued to stoke conspiracies about billionaire liberal donor george soros, and the target of one of the ma

jeffrey meyers, the rabbi at the tree of life speaking for the first time since the attack. >> we willuild to be a stronger tree, offering a new light. >> reporter: faith communities here in the bay area also tried to help people manage through their shock. memorial service was held yesterday in synagogue in tiburon. >> regardless of religion, race, sexual orientation, the ability status, we say you are welcome here. you are not alone. do not let yourself keep on being afraid. >> other similar services held in palo alto and at stanford university. >>> from the board room to the courtroom, a south bay superintendent and school trustee face a judge over allegations of harassment and a restraining order. "today in the bay's" kris sanchez joins us live from san jose's alum rock neighborhood. kris, what can we expect to happen today? >> reporter: well, at 8:45, the two parties have a date with the judge, and the superintendent here of the alum rock school district. we'll find out whether that judge will order a trustee to stay away from her permanently. this is video from the last time they

. >> reporter: rabbi jeffrey meyers was the first to call 911. >> i heard one woman "my husband's been. and that was quickly. and afterwards she was silenced. >> reporter: that woman, bernice simon died along side her husband together in the very sim synagogue the two had been married in six decades ago. despite living a seemingly normal life, the shooter's hatred could be found online. posts like these on a fringe site embrace bide white supremacists where he openly discussed his hatred for jewish people and arc fossed on conspiracy theories of the migrant caravan of people making their way to the southern boarder. rabbi meyers says hate will not win. >> we're a strong community and it's made us even closer and stronger to bond together. >> reporter: rabbi says he's planning funerals, the first of many. they say they also will be there mourn the community. >> thank soz eoomuch. >>> the florida man accused of accepteding pipe bombs to democrats and another suspicious package was intercepted. he kept a list of of potential targets, all of whom have been notified. investigators say the l